Sunday, January 24, 2010

Vera Wang Fabrics (her loss is my gain)

Like many of my online friends on the sewing boards, I recently fell prey to the Fabric.com clearance of Vera Wang fabrics at $1.95 a yard. The first box arrived on Wednesday, and the second box will come later this week. I must have lost my mind because I have no room for all of it! Time to get busy, I guess.

This fabric became available due to the recent economic collapse. Remember the chaos in retail in 2008? High end stores dropped prices to 75% off before Christmas and cancelled as many orders as they could. Vera Wang's Lavender Label was one of the lines impacted. Most of her Fall 2008 and Resort 2009 collections did not get produced, and the fabrics were eventually liquidated as a result.

In June 2009, they showed up on-line, and I bought several pieces then--the more mainstream ones. Good stuff with prices in the $10 per yard range.

With the latest clearance, I bought some of the more "signature" pieces. I did an online search and found how they were used in the collections. Some of the fabrics are so unique I wasn't sure what they could be used for--lavender brocade with giant flowers, anyone?

photos courtesy Vera Wang.

Yep, that's one of the selections I bought. I'm not planning any line-by-line re-creations of Ms. Wang's looks, but now at least I have a clue. And that brocade with the giant flowers is growing on me.

Of course, that's just one of many, but I didn't think to save pictures of them all from Fabric.com. But I also got some of that navy fabric that's peeking out in the second photo, as well as some cobalt wool boucle that Ms. Wang made into this:

photo courtesy Style.com

Also tropical weight Ebony stretch wool, baltic blue matte jersey, and a non-VW print jersey. The next box has more brocades, chiffon, and dark green twill.

5 comments:

I wondered how Fabric.com got hold of all that stuff and now we know why. I too have bought some of the lavender brocade; my plans for it are for a fancy long sleeved top to wear with a black evening skirt. I also bought some of the green boucle.

It's interesting. I've bought so much of that stuff in the different sales that even though I went and looked...what I bought was mostly things for my DD. The pieces I really wanted already reside in my collection and were some of the first to go. Now to see what we home sewists make up from all of that VW fabric floating around!

About Me

I'm living far from my native Southern habitat and enjoying life as a Desert Diva. I've reached the half century mark and beyond: living well is the best revenge.
I've been a huge sewing fan since junior high, when Mom bribed me into Home Ec by promising me I could use her sewing machine if only I enrolled. The rest is history.